Capturing all the things that make me happy

Post navigation

Who watches TV shows on the TV?

I watch a lot of TV shows and this fall I’ve added a few new ones to my roster (Pan Am and Revenge, particularly). This article, posted on Adweek, discusses how the ratings for many TV shows have been dropping. It made me wonder: who actually watches TV on the TV anymore?

Personally, in the past three years, I’ve rarely watched a TV show live.

Most of the time I watch my shows on Hulu or the channel’s website. If I do feel like watching the show the day it airs I DVR it, wait 20 minutes, and then start so that I can fast forward all the commercials.

It has a lot of advantages such as being able to watch a TV show exactly when I feel like it and not having to wait for a specific time and day. With people busier than ever, it’s hard to wait for a specific time and day to watch a show.

I do feel bad, especially when some of my shows have low ratings and are relying heavily on viewers. But then I remember that I don’t have a Nielsen box anyways.

I believe that the Nielsen box is an outdated audience measurement system. With so many different avenues to watch TV shows now like computers, smart phones, and video game portals Nielsen no longer paints an accurate picture of a show’s audience size.